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If you were to read only one thing…
NYT – How Did Marriage Become a Mark of Privilege? – Claire Cain Miller 9/25
- “Marriage, which used to be the default way to form a family in the United States, regardless of income or education, has become yet another part of American life reserved for those who are most privileged.”
- “Fewer Americans are marrying over all, and whether they do so is more tied to socioeconomic status than ever before. In recent years, marriage has sharply declined among people without college degrees, while staying steady among college graduates with higher incomes.”
- “Currently, 26% of poor adults, 39% of working-class adults and 56% of middle- and upper-class adults are married, according to a research brief published today from two think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute and Opportunity America. In 1970, about 82% of adults were married, and in 1990, about two-thirds were, with little difference based on class and education.”
- “A big reason for the decline: Unemployed men are less likely to be seen as marriage material.”
- “As marriage has declined, though, childbearing has not, which means that more children are living in families without two parents and the resources they bring.”
- “’The sharpest distinction in American family life is between people with a bachelor’s or not,’ said Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins and author of Labor’s Love Lost: The Rise and Fall of the Working-Class Family in America.”
- “Just over half of adolescents in poor and working-class homes live with both their biological parents, compared with 77% in middle- and upper-class homes, according to the research brief, by W. Bradford Wilcox and Wendy Wang of the Institute for Family Studies. 36% of children born to a working-class mother are born out of wedlock, versus 13% of those born to middle- and upper-class mothers.”
- “The research brief defined ‘working class’ as adults with an adjusted family income between the 20th and 50th percentiles, with high school diplomas but not bachelor’s degrees. Poor is defined as those below the 20th percentile or without high school diplomas, and the middle and upper class as those above the 50th percentile or with college degrees.”
- “Americans across the income spectrum still highly value marriage, sociologists have found. But while it used to be a marker of adulthood, now it is something more wait to do until the other pieces of adulthood are in place — especially financial stability. For people with less education and lower earnings, that might never happen.”
- “Evidence shows that the struggles of men without college degrees in recent years have led to a decline in marriage. It has been particularly acute in regions where well-paying jobs in male-dominated fields have disappeared because of automation and trade.”
- “’A bad economy lowers the cost of having bad values — substance abuse, engaging in crime, not looking for a job right away,’ said Gordon Hanson, an economist at the University of California, San Diego, who wrote the paper with David Autor of M.I.T. and David Dorn of the University of Zurich.”
- “Never-married adults cite financial instability as a major reason for being single, especially those who are low-income or under 30, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Most men feel it’s important for a husband to be a financial provider, especially men without college degrees, according to another new Pew survey.”
- “Women, meanwhile, have learned from watching a generation of divorce that they need to be able to support themselves. And many working-class women aren’t interested in taking responsibility for a man without a job.”
- “’They say, ‘If he’s not offering money or assets, why make it legal?’’ said June Carbone, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and the author with Naomi Cahn of Marriage Markets: How Inequality Is Remaking the American Family.”
- “While researchers say it’s stability, not a marriage license, that matters for children, American couples who live together but don’t marry are generally less likely to stay committed.”
- Clearly changing this momentum will take a lot. From an improved economy to strengthened cultural supports. A recommendation from Mr. Wilcox – “a bigger emphasis in high schools and pop culture on what’s known as the success sequence: degree, job, marriage, baby. ‘The idea is that if people follow that sequence, their odds of landing in poverty are much lower.'”
Perspective
NYT – The Best Investment Since 1926? Apple – Jeff Sommer 9/22
- “The iPhone helped to catapult Apple into its position as the world’s most valuable publicly traded company. But now Apple has another and, arguably, more exalted stock market distinction.”
- “In the history of the markets since 1926, Apple has generated more profit for investors than any other American company.”
Worthy Insights / Opinion Pieces / Advice
WSJ – Ray Dalio and the Market’s Pulse – Andy Kessler 9/24
- “The core of investing is quite simple: Determine what everyone else thinks, and then figure out in which direction they are wrong. That’s it. No one tells you what they think. You’ve got to feel it.”
- “It’s all about figuring out what is priced into a stock right now. That’s the pulse of the market, the collective mind meld aggregated into stock prices. I know from experience this is the hardest part of running a hedge fund. You can find the greatest story ever, but if everyone already knows it, there’s no money to be made.”
- “And the pulse changes with each government statistic, each daily ringing of cash registers and satellite images taken of parking lots. That’s why stocks trade every day. Real-world inputs and the drifting pulse drive the psychotic tick of the stock market tape. Once you feel the pulse, then and only then can you figure out how everyone’s wrong about tomorrow, next month or next year. And believe me, they’re always wrong. Stocks rarely tread water.”
- “How do you find that pulse? It’s hard enough to invest your IRA. Can you image managing $160 billion?”
FT – Plentiful oil will sustain the age of hydrocarbons – Nick Butler 9/24
- “The aggregate message is that there is no shortage. Sporadic spikes and volatility will be driven by political instability but demand can be supplied at a relatively high level for many years to come. Oil is not going away any time soon. That will comfort those companies that are unprepared for the energy transition but is more disturbing in terms of emissions and climate change.”
- “David Howell, the UK’s former energy secretary, writes in the new edition of his fascinating book on energy policy that there is a fundamental conflict between different views of the energy future — what he describes as the Black and the Green. That conflict will shape the public debate on energy for a long time to come. The age of hydrocarbons is far from over.”
Bloomberg Gadfly – Harvard Should Ignore the Freshman Slump – Nir Kaissar 9/25
- “It doesn’t take fancy consultants to spot the problem. Harvard abandoned one of the stalwart adages in finance: Pick an investment philosophy and stick to it. With its revolving door of chief executives, the endowment has been anything but stable.”
Markets / Economy
WSJ – Daily Shot: Consumer Staples Selloff 9/25
- Consumer push back against food incorporated.
Examples…
WSJ – Daily Shot: General Mills, Inc Stock Price 9/25
WSJ – Daily Shot: Kellogg Company Stock Price 9/25
WSJ – Daily Shot: Kraft Heinz Stock Price 9/25
FT – The return of the stock picker – Robin Wigglesworth 9/24
Energy
Bloomberg – In World’s Hottest Oil Patch, Jitters Mount That a Bust Is Near – Dan Murtaugh 9/25
- “Ups and downs are so ingrained in this business that crazy success in the Permian Basin is seen as an omen that a crash looms.”
Finance
WSJ – The Global Stock Market’s Hidden Juice – Paul J. Davies 9/24
- “One common sign of trouble ahead is people borrowing heavily to buy equities.”
- “Investors should be worried then that stocks are being supported by record amounts of margin debt, according to research released last week from the Bank for International Settlements, the Switzerland-based central bank for central banks.”
- “These kinds of loans secured against stocks have often proved dangerous in a downturn because when share prices fall borrowers are forced to sell.”
- “In the U.S., margin debt is more than three-times the level ahead of the 2008 crisis and is greater even than its peak in 2000 before the dot-com crash, according to the B.I.S.”
- “However, lending volume alone isn’t a clear indicator of risk because equity values have increased, too. In the U.S. at least, lending as a share of market capitalization has been relatively steady for the past four years, most recently at 2.12%. But that level is much higher than the period before 2007 and above even the dotcom-era peak of 2.05%.”
- “Rich clients’ desire to borrow against stocks has been stoked by the low interest rates and rising stock markets. It is attractive for banks, too. Lending against shares is seen as less risky than mortgages because stocks can be sold more quickly than a house, so banks can hold less capital against margin loans. Also, if the borrowed money is invested with the bank, rather than spent on yachts or cars, that boosts assets under management.”
- “The banks themselves all say that while lending looks high, their own approach is conservative and the general competition for clients is less aggressive than in the past. But neither the banks nor their investors have a full view of leverage across the system and the risk that may pose.”
- “Equities have to fall 20% to 30% before margin loans are underwater. That protects the banks, but doesn’t stop a wave of selling to repay debt when a downturn comes. That could spell real pain for everyone else.”
Construction
- “Construction workers in California are among the highest paid in the nation, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”
- “Fixr.com, an online website that provides cost guides, comparisons and other information for people looking to do remodeling or repair projects, crunched the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers to create a state-by-state ranking of average hourly wages for workers in the industry.”
- “California landed 10th on the list of the 10 Highest Wage States, with average hourly earnings of $21.26. Connecticut and Washington ranked just above California with slightly higher pay, and Hawaii and Illinois were tied for the top slot. Construction workers in both of those states earn an average of $27.01 an hour.”
- “Massachusetts, followed with $25.84 an hour and New Jersey ranked fourth with an average hourly wage of $24.05. Construction workers in Arkansas are hurting the most, according to the report, as their average wage is just $12.38 an hour.”
- “The national average wage for construction workers is $18.22 an hour, which equates to $37,897 a year. In California, construction workers earn an average of $44,221 a year.”
- “Mike Balsamo, CEO of the Building Industry Association of Southern California, isn’t surprised that California ranks near the top. But he said wages can be considerably higher for someone with specific skills and more experience.”
China
- Get Chinese citizens to adopt the consumer and debt habits of the Americans. This has always been the goal – at least for the MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) and it takes a burden off the central government in regard to boosting demand.
FT – China property developers dip on new sales restrictions – Hudson Lockett 9/24
- “Hong Kong-listed developers saw share prices drop on Monday as investors reacted to new property sales restrictions imposed across eight major Chinese cities in response to rising house prices.”
- “The cities of Changsha, Chongqing, Guiyang, Nanchang, Nanning, Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Xi’an had all tightened controls on housing sales since Friday, with state news agency Xinhua stating most had banned sales within two to three years of purchase.”
- “Authorities in Shijiazhuang imposed particularly strict limits, requiring home buyers to wait for five years before reselling property.”
Puerto Rico
- “There is no more agriculture in Puerto Rico. And there won’t be any for a year or longer.” – Jose A. Rivera, farmer
- “In a matter of hours, Hurricane Maria wiped out about 80% of the crop value in Puerto Rico — making it one of the costliest storms to hit the island’s agriculture industry, said Carlos Flores Ortega, Puerto Rico’s secretary of the Department of Agriculture.”
- “Plantain, banana and coffee crops were the hardest hit, Mr. Flores said. Landslides in the mountainous interior of the island took out many roads, a major part of the agriculture infrastructure there.”
- “The island suffered a loss of $780 million in agriculture yields, according to the department’s preliminary figures. Hurricane Georges in 1998 wiped out about 65% of crops and Hurricane Irma, which only grazed the island, took out about $45 million in agriculture production.”
- “Puerto Rico already imports about 85 percent of its food, and now its food imports are certain to rise drastically as local products like coffee and plantains are added to the list of Maria’s staggering losses. Local staples that stocked supermarkets, school lunchrooms and even Walmart are gone.”
