ECONOMICS

Via Middle East Eye

The Middle East’s poorer countries have been struggling with warped, barely functioning economies for decades. Jordanians and Egyptians watched Southeast Asia develop manufacturing industries that lifted millions out of poverty, whereas they withered under bloated governments, layers of red tape and an elite engaged in rent-seeking.

Donald Trump’s decision to tear up the global trading system on Wednesday with a torrent of tariffs is, therefore, being met with a (more…)

To look at the Pacific Northwest today one would never know that 25 years ago the region was an economic powerhouse at the forefront of technology and business innovation.  At the time Portland and Seattle were known for constant rain as well as raining cash, and the "millionaire density" of the Seattle area was at historic highs.  The tech boom and international trade with Asia had created a Silicon Valley of the northern coast.  

Companies like Nike, Starbucks, Microsoft and (more…)

Despite all the 'soft' data slumping and legacy media narrative creation that a recession is imminent, US Factory Orders (hard data) surged for the second month in a row (beating expectations). Headline factory orders rose 0.6% MoM (+0.5% MoM exp) in March and February's 1.7% MoM jump was revised up to +1.8% MoM. This left Factory Orders up 2.5% YoY…

Source: Bloomberg

Core Factory Orders (excluding the more volatile Transportation sector) rose 0.4% MoM – (more…)