Xinhua News Agency, November 17 According to financial analysts, the Chinese government recently instructed state owned enterprises to purchase large shares of lithium mining enterprises overseas, such as Australia and Argentina, in order to guarantee the supply of lithium batteries, which are of crucial importance to the production of electric vehicles in China.
Government intervention in the future is inevitable.
In the 1930s, the world rejected the individuality of the '20s and before. After the Crash and the Depression, it finally put the corporate class and bankers to the sidelines.
Whether it was Keynesianism or the FDR New Deal, or state fascism or the advent of Stalinism, you saw more government control over the economy.
It was not good for the asset-holding classes - stocks and bonds did terribly over that period...You wanted to be a worker - you wanted to be labour, not capital.
All that changed in the late 1970s and 1980s, with the arrival of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, who advocated a more globalistic, free market approach.
Since then, capital has risen and assets have done better than labour. Taxes have been light on financial assets, and heavy on labour.
If we look at the events of recent years - Brexit, the Italian referendum, Spain and Catalonia, Trump, and the rise of socialist China - are these the harbingers of something bigger? If this is a major shift to populism, nationalism, greater state involvement, and less globalism, then you really have to rethink almost everything in your life.
The GFC was never solved; just delayed. The plight of Japanese firm Olympus underlines today's financial mess in that it was able to hide a megaloss from the 1987 collapse til the GFC. It would still be hiding now but for cross cultural betrayal of it's former CEO. Central Banks have united to delay the problem hoping for a miracle. The Japanese stock market has increased markedly due to their central bank printing money to buy stocks.
We now see the rise of Bitcoin. It's only real market is the dark web. What of Ethereum, Litecoin and others? Russia has developed their own cryptocurrency and have the government influence to effectively bring it into being. Gold is increasingly withering into irrelevance like the cow standard that preceded it. A cryptocurrency seems inevitable to replace fiat currencies but who will maintain the encryption. It will require one to dominate. China?
The ground seems to be fertile for things to change globally. AI? A Universal Basic Income (UBI) for humans? Chinese led Socialism? We all know a UBI in a market oriented economy just leads to higher prices and becomes useless. Will the "market orientated" be removed from that equation? The UBI people will only blow their money on drugs, so I say ... don't just legalise drugs but make them free too. We all want freedom and libertarianism; when do we place the onus of personal responsibilty on the individual? Roll me a number, Siri. Light me, Siri.
The salient point of 30s and 80s economics is it was never about socialism or capitalism but taxation of capital or labour. We all want a fair go. We've progressed to bipartisan politics where the accelerator is used on the left or right as society needs.
We no longer need a social system of inheritance. You shouldn't necessarily pay tax during your lifetime ... but when you die. All adult finance and investment is individual and accounted appropriately to enable public audit. If you're born into a rich family then you're lucky and have immeasureable opportunity. However to then inherit wealth and never to have to scratch the ground for food ... is unequal.
We all know there's too many people in the world. China and India know they're gassing their population with pollution. The reigning illuminatis of the world are busy altering the sexuality of their people. Everyone else is being mindwarped by their audio visual mediums to live the most indulgent life as possible. Any dissenting voice of the truth is "moderated".
So ... where to place your hard earned money? Preferably in something tangible that everyone considers of value. It has always been land and buildings ... but with declining populations (inevitably), less so.
Economics in its purest sense has been planned economy versus unplanned economy and that humans have unlimited wants but limited resources. Ergo, those resources that are "flavour of the month" will be the best investment. Australia is blessed with Iron Ore. There's plenty of IO in the world but Australia can produce it at the lowest cost.
Similarly PLS has Lithium. It can produce the best product for the lowest price. The product has the lowest metal weight and the greatest energy density in our solar system
So ... IMHO ... stuff real estate, bitcoin, etc. and buy PLS shares.
The only thing certain in life is change and oh baby ... the times they are a'changin'.
PLS Price at posting:
94.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)