Economy

Robots could take millions of retail jobs, but don't count on it.

David Stockman warns political upheaval may trigger the crash.

"I have no idea how this will play out, but as a youthful witness to history back in 1973-1974 I observed Tricky Dick’s demise in daily slow motion. But the most memorable part of the saga was how incredibly invincible Nixon seemed in early 1973.Current Prices on popular forms of Gold BullionNixon started his second term, in fact, with a massive electoral landslide, strong public opinion polls and a completely functioning government and cabinet.
Even more importantly, he was still basking in the afterglow of his smashing 1972 foreign policy successes in negotiating detente and the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty with Brezhnev and then the historic opening to China on his Beijing trip.
So I’ll take the unders from anyone who gives the Donald even the 19 months that Nixon survived.
After all, Trump lost the popular vote, is loathed by official Washington, barely has a functioning cabinet and is a whirling dervish of disorder, indiscipline and unpredictability."

True.

"To use a storm metaphor, I have never been in the eye of a hurricane. But I do reside only a few blocks from Wall Street. And I can feel the financial barometric pressure plummeting by the hour.In fact, others than the five FAANG stocks (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Goggle), the market has been silently collapsing since March 1st.
That’s right. During the last 70 days, the FAANGS have gained $260 billion in value, while the other 495 companies in the S&P 500 have lost an identical amount. And on that utterly unmistakable pattern history is absolutely clear."

The bust is happening now.