“A
Warning for Property Investors in Australia” - (www.wolfstreet.com) Investment
in the Australian housing sector has become a frantic activity, and prices have
soared. This has been accompanied by a construction boom, particularly of large
multi-family developments. But that construction boom is now creating a
ballooning oversupply “up and down the East Coast of Australia,” warns Roger
Montgomery, Chief Investment Officer of Montgomery Investment Management in
Australia, in the short video below, “Property Implosion?” In Brisbane, for
example, vacancy rates have doubled, and it’s going to get much, much worse.
Prices and rents will get hit as developers try to unload their apartments
(condos) and as property investors will sit on vacant units.
Real estate developers engaged in 'arms race' to
fill Brooklyn luxury apartments - (www.cnbc.com) In New York City —
one of the hottest real estate markets in the world — the battle for tenants
has escalated into an all-out brawl of sorts among luxury properties. As it
happens, the weapons of choice have grown beyond the standard fare of marble
countertops, sweeping views and porcelain bathrooms with expensive fixtures. An
"arms race" is breaking out in Brooklyn to draw renters to the
neighborhood's hip and expensive rental market, which is becoming increasingly
saturated amid a construction boom of high-end apartment buildings. The soaring
supply has done little to curb prices: Recent data from real estate firm
Douglas Elliman shows the average rental cost in Brooklyn is well above $3,000
per month.
China
Embarking on a Financial High-Wire Act - (www.wsj.com) At
the top of regulators’ agenda in China for 2017 is a campaign to wean the
nation’s sprawling financial system off of cheap borrowing and rising credit
levels. Years of easy money have helped fuel growth, but also have sparked a
worrisome surge in asset prices and other financial risks. The latest target is
the $9 trillion bond market, where the central bank has been gradually tamping
down short-term credit to discourage the kind of borrowing many financial
institutions use to make risky investments. This tightening also helps address
China’s other big headache: keeping its currency stable to stem the flood of
cash heading overseas.
New
York Governor Proposes "Free Tuition" For Public Universities - (www.zerohedge.com) Apparently
New York's Governor doesn't think that misinformed government policies are
doing nearly enough to drive up college tuition costs. As a result, he
has decided to offer "free" tuition at public state and city colleges
to any student whose parents earn less than $125,000. There is little doubt
that easy access to federally subsidized student loans have contributed to the
astronomical increase in the cost of attending college in the United
States. After all, what 18 year old would turn down $200,000 in free
money to party for 4 years? As an added bonus, when you figure out upon
graduation that your degree in anthropology if fairly worthless, you can always
just move back in with mom and force taxpayers to pick up your debt
burden. Anything less would be a substantial "triggering" event
and we just can't have that.
Finland's
Basic Income Experiment Starts - Really, It's Testing The Laffer Curve For Poor
People - (www.forbes.com) Finland
is just starting an experiment which has a lot of us economic types rather
excited. Yes, I know, sad, isn't it, that we might get excited over something
that seems so trivial. For what Finland is doing is testing out the core idea
of a universal basic income. Instead of paying welfare benefits conditional
upon circumstances, like being unemployed, or having too little an income, why
not just pay people a set minimum? Not a huge amount, to be sure, but enough to
just keep body and soul together. And make it unconditional. Doesn't matter
whether you look for work, get a job, earn a high income, we just have a system
whereby the very basics of life are guaranteed to be affordable.
The head
of Germany's Ifo economic institute believes Italians will eventually want to
quit - (www.reuters.com)
China's homegrown populism to test Xi Jinping - (www.cnbc.com)
Europe’s Fate in 2017: Caught Between Low Rates and Populist Politics - (www.wsj.com)
China's homegrown populism to test Xi Jinping - (www.cnbc.com)
Europe’s Fate in 2017: Caught Between Low Rates and Populist Politics - (www.wsj.com)
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