Weekend Reading: 13-14 October 2018

Global Macro / Markets / Investing:

• A $1 Trillion Powder Keg Threatens the Corporate Bond Market – Bloomberg
• A Hedge Fund Guy Lefties Can Love – Bloomberg
• ‘The Mother of All Scams’: Roubini Slams Crypto in Senate Hearing – Bloomberg
• Stocks could fall 40% to 50% to reach fair value, with recession in first half of 2019: Morgan Street Capital – CNBC
• Ben Bernanke’s End Game – WSJ
• The Dollar and its Discontents – Project Syndicate
• Everybody Pretends to Understand the Market – Bloomberg
• The next recession – The Economist
• Nearly $13 billion wiped off of cryptocurrency market as major coins plunge – CNBC
• The $80 Trillion World Economy in One Chart – Visual Capitalist
• Crypto Industry on ‘Brink of an Implosion,’ Researcher Says – Bloomberg

Americas:

• Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen is now a Democrat – Axios
• Adelson drops tens of millions more to save the GOP Congress – Politico
• Republicans may be about to steal an election in Georgia – Washington Post
• Fact check: President Trump’s claims on Medicare, Democrats – USA Today
• Trump Lashes Out at ‘Loco’ Fed Again, Calling Rate Hikes a ‘Mistake’ – Bloomberg
• Trump Is Mulling Candidates Who Could Replace Jeff Sessions – WSJ
• Sorry, Democrats, Progressive Mob Action Is a Real Problem – National Review
• Trump and the fear of fascism in America – FT
• Mortgage Rates Fast Approaching 5%, a Fresh Blow to Housing Market – WSJ
• Interest Rates Are Rising for All the Right Reasons – NY Times
• Call ’em crazy, but Fed officials likely to keep raising rates – Reuters
• Brazilian Swamp Drainer – WSJ

Europe:

• UK and Brussels close to agreeing Brexit deal – FT
• Major: Universal credit like 80s poll tax – BBC
• Tony Blair says there is a 50-50 chance of another Brexit referendum – Reuters
• Senior U.K. Official Sees Trump Trade Deal as Brexit Pipe Dream – Bloomberg
• Bank of Greece Blames Bank Stocks’ Rout on Contagion From Italy – Bloomberg
• Russian Murdered After Revealing $200 Billion Dirty-Money Scam – Daily Beast
• UK public finances near the bottom of IMF league table – FT

Asia:

• U.S. Treasury Staff Finds China Isn’t Manipulating Yuan, Sources Say – Bloomberg
• Trump and Xi Plan to Meet Amid Trade Tension – WSJ
• China to get status quo treatment in currency report – Politico
• China Shares Sink Most Since 2016 as 1,000 Stocks Fall by Limit – Bloomberg
• The Unknowable Fallout of China’s Trade War Nuclear Option – NY Times
• Chinese Spy Arrested and Is First Brought to U.S. for Prosecution – NY Times
• China legalises ‘re-education camps’ for ‘religious extremists’ in Xinjiang – SCMP
• Chinese spy, charged with stealing U.S. aviation secrets, extradited for prosecution – Washington Post
• China’s Media Crackdown Spreads to Hong Kong – NY Times

Trans-Tasman:

• Teacher who lost school job after revealing he was in same sex relationship warns of impact of religious review – ABC
• ‘Liberals taken over by extremists’: Turnbull’s son to Wentworth voters – SBS
• Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged voters in the Wentworth by-election to ignore the son of his ousted predecessor Malcolm Turnbull – ABC
• Farmers’ climate denial begins to wane as reality bites – The Conversation
• ‘Australia is in trouble’: majority media and lobbying destroy trust in politics, Garnaut says – The Guardian
• Work for the dole an ‘intergenerational time bomb’ for Indigenous communities – The Guardian
• ‘Move on’: Student’s court bid to reverse fail grade for dog project dismissed – The SMH
• Bill Shorten considers major superannuation shake-up – New Daily
• Inflation for essential items is higher than the official consumer price index – SBS
• Labor offers support if Morrison acts to stop schools from expelling gay students – The Guardian
• Electricity suppliers warn that excess solar could destabilise the grid – ABC
• Labor supports fast-tracking the tax cuts for small to medium-sized businesses – ABC
• Christopher Pyne backs Australia joining Asia’s ‘Our Eyes’ intelligence group – The SMH
• Risks-a-plenty dampen economist’s growth forecasts – Interest.co.nz

Added Extra

Chris Hedges on his latest book, America: The Farewell Tour…..a depressing but thought provoking take on the United States (with significant implications for elsewhere)….