The Geothermal Sleeping Giant

Welcome to This Week’s Leyendecker View

Celebrate what you want to see more of.
– In Search of Excellence co-author Tom Peters

THOUGHTS FROM DOUG

I think every culture around the world sings and dances. That’s kind of a sweet thought about humanity.

I’m going to guess there is happiness and cultural pride in every country of the world, no matter how they are governed, autocracy, democracy or something else.

Inflation was supposed to be transitory. It was transitory but went higher and lasted longer than the Fed suggested it would. Now the Fed is supposed to be leading us to a “soft landing.” Hmmm…Should we trust them this time?

China wants their citizens to have more children. Japan wants their citizens to have more children. Many countries in Europe need more babies. Even Americans are now having less sex. What’s the solution? 

If you commit to reading just 25 pages a day, you’ll be able to read almost 10,000 pages in a year. Imagine that? You may even be able to read a couple congressional bills each year!!! Unlike those in Congress.

Davos CEOs want efficient and profitable operations. Hey! What about ESG?

“Their business model is inconsistent with human survival,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he criticized the fossil fuel industry. Guterres has been a socialist and politician pretty much his whole adult life, so what does he even know about how an economy works?

Professional forecasters see a recession coming. But if you look at this chart, they’ve never actually predicted a recession. Why are they right this time?

Do we really think AI is capable of creating more beauty than a real human being? Is it even beauty if created by AI?

Pizza, cheeseburger or tacos? Your vote if these were your last meal choices?

The key to success can be said in three words: Always exceed expectations.

THE ECONOMIC VIEW

Q4 GDP looks pretty good
The calm before the storm?
Consumer spending fell in December

Philly manufacturing index falls
Richmond manufacturing index falls
Leading economic indicators
Fell hard in December

The world may be better in 2023.
But maybe it won’t

THE INFLATION BOGEYMAN

Will China’s reopening increase inflation?
Odds seem good, but we’ll see

Commodity prices are rising again
Will they keep going up?

Inflation is easing.
Yet economists still see a recession
And companies scale back investment plans

THE LABOR VIEW

Layoffs are spreading
Big companies hop on the chance to cut costs.
Yet small businesses are hiring

Remote work saves people time
About an hour a day not in traffic.
Yet remote jobs are shrinking

Companies cutting temp workers
Canary in the coal mine for employment.

The CEO-worker pay gap
Just me, or is it kind of ridiculous?

MEANWHILE IN EUROPE

EU gas storage at record high
Putin needs to find new customers.

Europe’s economy improves some
Thanks to the mild winter.

Europe needs to spend big
To keep up with the US and China.

PLAYING WITH FIRE

US to send in tanks
Germany to send in tanks
What convinced them to do so?
Will it be enough to turn the war?
How’s Russia going to play this?
With hypersonic missiles?

Military conflict risk is rising
In Albania and Azerbaijan.

There’s another war brewing
Is Russia poking the Balkans into war?
Kosovo closes Serbian border

GLOBAL

The MENA world
Is staring at a water crisis
Here it is in a graph

IMF issues a warning.
Japanese central bank is on thin ice
BOJ is not easing fears

Is a sovereign debt crisis coming?
Is the Fed paying attention?

South Korea’s economy contracts in Q4
But is positive for the year.

Pakistan’s economy near collapse
Who you gonna call?

THE FINANCE WORLD

The largest con in corporate history
A short seller takes on Asia’s richest person.
Billionaire says claims are baseless

The world’s top hedge funds
Here’s how much they are earning

Tech stocks are old news.
EM stocks are where you want to be

The investor fear and greed index
Is back in greed territory

REAL ESTATE

Existing home sales
Have fallen 11 months in a row
But a market recovery may have started

Housing market for the next five years
Looks like a bumpy ride

Mortgage rates are lower.
But houses are still not so affordable
Housing affordability index still bad

Blackstone curbed real estate redemptions
Now KKR has followed
Big risks in global property market

TECHNOLOGY

Microsoft to invest big in ChatGPT
Here’s how they can use it
Teacher suggests embracing ChatGPT
The inside story on ChatGPT
It just passed a med school exam
And law school, too
But it can’t pick stocks just yet

DOJ is about to sue Google
Over digital ad market dominance.

Could Mark Zuckerberg go to jail?
Check out a new proposal in the UK

THE CRYPTO MEME

SBF sent $400MM to an unknown hedge fund
Hmmm…hiding some money?

Crypto industry’s favorite bank
Is in deep trouble

What’s next for crypto in 2023?
A fight for the soul of decentralized finance

THE NEXT NORMAL

How is AI changing the art world?
Are we losing the human touch?

No quick fix for social media
Could take many years of trial and error.

Robots are getting smarter and smarter
Yesterday’s sci-fi will be today’s reality soon.

THE WAR ON CARBON

Solar growth should be good for next three years
Unless we can’t buy Chinese panels

Giant wind turbines are falling over
Back to the drawing board?

Crude demand should set record in 2023
So much for destroying hydrocarbons.

Earth’s core is in a big shift
Any chance this influences climate?

THE NEW ENERGY TRANSITION

Texas
The geothermal sleeping giant

Europe has escaped power crisis so far
But not China

An oil boom is coming to Guyana
They have only 800K in population.

Hungary could have shale gas deposits
That could last a century.

THE EV DREAM

EVs may not replace hybrids
Anytime soon.

GM cancels new battery factory
Hmmm…what’s really going on here?

GM backs off EV expectations
Battery production hits a snag.

THE CHINA SYNDROME

China’s post-covid comeback
Is just getting started.

Global Belt and Road projects
Are falling apart.

Behind the curtain.
How Xi plays Wizard of Oz

In case you hadn’t noticed
Chinese cars are taking over the world

THE WASHING-TONE

US military not prepared for a war
Says Washington think tank.

The US is not getting protectionist
New policies can enhance free trade.

How a Republican House can cut government spending
Less free money for the economy.

MAKING A BETTER YOU

How to become a good person
From folks who’ve studied it a lot.

Life lessons
From the self-employed.

Can medieval sleeping habits
Help us sleep better today?

HOW ABOUT A BREAK

The rise of child podcast superstars
Get rich before high school.

For the first time since the Ice Age
A green comet is about to pass earth

The Museum of Failure
What fun!

SONG OF THE WEEK

“Laughing”
RIP, David Crosby.
Lyrics are poetry, you know.
The 15 essential David Crosby songs

CASTING AROUND THE PODS

America’s broken immigration system
An Honestly discussion led by Kmele Foster. 

VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

American Mikaela Shiffrin wins World Cup
She’s a speed racer!

All Quiet on the Western Front trailer
Big Academy Awards potential.

Boston Dynamics Atlas gets a grip
Oh man, the robots are coming.

FROM THE HEADHUNTER’S KITCHEN

The perfectly cooked chicken breast
How to make it every time.

Under-30-minutes pasta recipes
I’ll take shrimp scampi with gnocchi!

Who invented the dishwasher?
Here you go!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Tech Prepares for a Rough Year
January 20, 2023

Disruptive Science Is Declining
January 13, 2023